India concerned over carbon tax on airlines by European Union

NEW DELHI: India today expressed concern over the decision of European Union to impose carbon tax on airlines, saying the initiative will have implications on the developing countries.

A Finance Ministry paper on Climate Change noted that nations, which had imposed the carbon tax, have yet to fulfil their financial commitments to the developing nations to deal with the issue of climate change.

Recently, European Union took a "unilateral" decision to levy charges on international flights to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

According the Finance Ministry paper: "While the Cancun decisions have recognised the need of having a separate Fund and reaffirmed that funding for adaptation will be prioritised for the most vulnerable developing countries... and the Durban meeting finalising the design of the fund, the work relating to climate finance is far from complete".

Another point of concern, it added, "is that various innovative sources of finance, for example aviation tax, being deliberated upon may have incidence on developing countries.

"Hence the multilateral negotiations must ensure that incidence (of innovative sources of financing) should not fall on developing countries which is in violation of the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) principle".

While the debate on climate finance continues, actual flow of money for dealing with green issues has been inadequate.